The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Sumo wrestling? Warping? This is getting good.

Last week we explored the first six hours of Twilight Princess in frightful detail, which took Link through the game's first dungeon. But as we noted, it's impossible to realize the true scope and enormity of this adventure until you free the Forest Temple from its bizarre parasitic infestation. Only then can you see for yourself how immense this adventure of Link is.

The opening hours of Twilight Princess, as it turns out, are contained within a tiny portion of the game world. In fact, most of the Ordon Wood events transpire outside the boundaries of the game map. Zooming out on the map screen to get a sense of perspective is rather shocking -- a little bit like leaving Midgar in Final Fantasy VII and realizing that the last half-dozen hours have been contained in a tiny corner of the full game world.

New for Dungeon Two
Very few new gameplay elements are added to Link's repertoire beyond the first dungeon; since the opening areas serve as a sort of tutorial, the bulk of what we know about the game's mechanics are covered in last week's preview. There are, however, a few new features:

Horseback Battling

By far, the most jaw-dropping moment in the build-up to the second dungeon comes in the form of a cavalry battle. Although certainly nothing on the Lord of the Rings scale, it's a totally new form of gameplay for the Zelda series that nevertheless fits perfectly with the controls and overall feel of Twilight Princess. This sequence is similar to the usual Epona portions of the game, except that an endless procession of warthog-riding goblins is nipping at Link's heels.

Unfortunately, at this point the only damaging ranged weapons Link has in his inventory are the slingshot and boomerang -- neither of which are worth a plugged nickel here. While plinking the lesser goblin forces with Deku Nuts will stun them briefly, the goal of the horseback battle is to take down their armored leader, who cruelly mocks you for trying to off him with such a pitiful excuse for a weapon.

Ranged weapons aren't much good in this encounter, but Link still has his sword skills. And they work exactly the same as when he's on foot.

The chase sequence has a fairly simple structure: The goblin commander leads the chase, taunting Link and forcing Epona to dash ahead to catch up. The goal is to slash the leader three times and knock away his armor, but this is no simple matter since he has a tendency to veer sharply away right as Link catches up. To further complicate matters, three or four of his subordinates are constantly harassing Link.

Shaking the Wii Remote will cause Link to perform a slashing attack, which can help drive off the minions. The urgency of the chase made makes it hard to look back and say for certain whether shaking the Remote either left or right caused Link to slash in the appropriate direction, but that's certainly how our adrenaline-saturated memories have framed it. Link can also perform a spin attack with the Nunchuck, although there's a certain element of risk to this due to the recovery time from the move. You'll want to be positive that your spin attack will connect or else you'll leave yourself vulnerable to reprisal.

It's also important not to get carried away spurring Epona forward. An on-screen meter allows Link to make Epona dash ahead up to six times, and the meter slowly recharges as you run. However, should you empty the dash meter entirely, Epona will slow briefly to a trot, giving the enemy leader a bit of a lead and practically guaranteeing that his henchmen get some free hits in.

The battle rages across a broad grassy plain in Hyrule Field, running at times right up against a sheer cliff face. As the encounter progresses, the field of battle becomes trickier: Eventually, obstacles begin to appear, forcing a perfectly-timed dash. (Running around them also works and can be a handy way to throw off the pursuit -- the lesser goblins will sometimes run right into the spiked wooden obstacles, which brings their careers to a very grisly end.)

Once you land your third successful blow against the goblin leader, the fight changes to a new venue.

Jousting

Wounded, the goblin leader breaks off the chase and heads toward a long bridge spanning a seemingly bottomless ravine. Link gives chase only to find his escape route closed by fire -- and the only way forward is to face down the boss goblin in a head-to-head joust.

With little room to maneuver on the narrow bridge, jousting is basically a matter of knowing how Epona moves. The goblin will try block you if you veer to the side, but his mount's lateral motion is a bit slower than Epona, so the best thing to do is to hug one side of the bridge until the last possible moment, then break hard to the opposite side. This will allow you to pass safely. (A head-on collision is very bad news for Link, because the goblin's armored warthog has quite a bit more mass than Epona.)

There's more to victory than simply passing the beast, though. You also have to attack him -- which means a perfectly-timed sword strike as you streak past. A successful hit will send the monster screaming into the ravine, netting players a well-earned victory pose.